This invention relates to a camera control system for remotely controlling a video camera, as well as a method of controlling the system.
In a video communication conferencing system, a plurality of video cameras are connected to corresponding communication terminals and input video is transmitted among users via a communication line. Each user participates in the conference while viewing the video from a communicating party displayed on the monitor screen of the user's own terminal, and while viewing reference material and graphics as required. Data can be exchanged as well.
Ordinarily, the video camera connected to each terminal can be externally controlled so as to be panned, tilted and zoomed. Each terminal remotely controls the video camera, connected to the communication terminal of the communicating party, via the line.
Generally, when the video camera of a communicating party's terminal is remotely controlled in a conferencing system using a plurality of terminals, a list of the terminal names or video camera names participating in the conference is keyed in and one of the names is selected. A group of special-purpose keys provided on a keyboard or the like is then operated, key operation is converted to data for video camera control and the data are sent to the terminal selected.
However, the operation for specifying the target terminal or video camera relies upon human memory and therefore is very troublesome. In addition, the key operation is complicated and control cannot be performed correctly unless the user has a certain degree of skill.